Bollywood, Music and Movies, for a Nouveau Experience

The warm winter’s afternoon got me revved up for the evening performance, the knowledge of five generations of sitar players and that lineage proudly played out at the Lyric theatre on the evening of the 30th July 2017.

Not knowing what to expect when I played the CD, only knowing the genre and that this might be a more ‘Classical’ Rock fusion, I was amazed at the precision of singers. The detail which they give the Raags in these 4-5 minutes is an achievement on its own.

There are many iterations of Devdas all over Bollywood, and Anmol Ghadi is also one of them. The writers just switched Devdas and Paro’s affluence; in what results in an overly melodramatic adaptation.

Satyajit Ray is truly a master story teller; Pather Panchali cements this sentiment; it is a sensitive film about relationships and life itself. The reality that is shown in this movie is scary, it’s like Ray was just filming a common family and showing the world what goes on in some corners of the world, which they probably never thought existed.

Like All A. R. Rahman soundtracks, the entirety of the album doesn’t hit you right away; it takes its time to absorb into your mind, and once there it embeds into your soul. Tamasha’s music will sustain through the long term, and that makes me smile.

Bajirao Mastani is based on the love story between Peshwa Bajirao I and his second wife Mastani; set in the time period between 1720AD – 1740AD; the epic also depicts the angst and sacrifices of Kashibai (Bajirao’s first wife). The music, while staying relevant to the time period, has to also cater to the titular characters Marathi heritage and be fresh enough to cater to the current audience.

Mughal-E-Azam’s music has truly played an important role in its phenomenal success. In this epic love story, Naushad’s melodies paired with Shakeel Badayuni’s lyrics were unbeatable. K. Asif took a decade to create his grand epic, “Mughal-e-Azam”. He made sure that each and every part of his baby depicted emotions on an epic scale. They say that the music is the soul of the film and it is no surprise then that K. Asif and Naushad made sure that the songs were unforgettable and luxuriously romantic. “Mughal-e-Azam” reminds us why we still have the song-and-dance formula in Hindi films. The music and poetry can add so many depths to a legendary romance and make many people want to revisit that film again and again. No wonder then that this film is now accepted as the definitive version of the Salim-Anarkali story.